Solange Fabião

Art and Architecture

“When I try to find a connection between my art and my architecture and here specifically with the Cité, I find a search for what is essential, the search for a core element as defining in the work. The two sides of the great curve (The limit in-between – this intersection is the sea’s profundity when it touches the open sky), its dynamics express indispensable qualities of the ocean and the surf.” S.F. 2011

New York based Brazilian artist and design architect Solange Fabião will talk about her artistic path from her early work Diagonal System, the TRANSITIO Series, Highlighting the Line to the realization of the Cité de L’Océan et du Surf in Biarritz, France, a collaboration with Steven Holl Architects. The Cité de l’Océan et du Surf was designed to raise awareness of oceanic issues and explore educational and scientific aspects of the surf and sea as well as their role upon our leisure, science, and ecology. It is comprised of a museum building, exhibition areas, and a plaza.

Fabião has been focusing on the integration of the fields of art, architecture and design as well as on the expansion of her perception throughout the various cultures she experienced during her life and career.

Artist and architect Solange Fabião was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

SOLANGE FABIÃO

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Lives and works in New York

Artist and design architect Solange Fabião was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Fabião, since a very early age has been committed to the fine arts, considering painting a lifetime activity. At the age of 8, Fabião produced her first set, a large-scale painting of a tree on a black background. Diversity in the creative process and in the forms of expression has been her focal point; Fabião studied architecture, received her BFA in set design. Fabião worked as set designer for the Brazilian Network Rede Globo and designed sets for theater in Rio de Janeiro and in Berlin, Germany. Fabião studied digital media and art history at the HDK and Freie Universität Berlin, arriving in Berlin seven months before the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. In 1994, after experiencing the five initial years of Germany’s Unification, Fabião moved to New York. - http://solangefabiao.com/bio/

CITÉ DE L'OCÉAN ET DU SURF - click at title tab on the right

The Cité de l’Océan et du Surf is a museum that explores both surf and sea and their role upon our leisure, science and ecology.

The building form derives from the spatial concept “under the sky”/“under the sea”. A concave “under the sky” shape forms the character of the main exterior space, the “Place de l’Océan.” The convex structural ceiling forms the “under the sea” exhibition spaces. The building’s spatial qualities are experienced already at the entrance where the lobby and ramps give a broad aerial view of the exhibition areas, as they pass along the dynamic curved surface that is animated by moving image and light.

The museum store is located at the intermediate level of the exhibition spaces, with direct access to the entry lobby and the auditorium. The more intimate restaurant and the elevated outdoor terrace are at the top level of the museum, providing open ocean views.